Jan. 18, 2003
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team opened its 2002-03 Mountain West Conference schedule with a 50-48 loss to the UNLV Lady Rebels Saturday night at Cox Arena. With the loss, the Aztecs slipped below .500 (6-7, 0-1) and are now 1-3 all-time in Mountain West Conference openers. The Lady Rebels, meanwhile, improved to 10-4 overall and 1-0 in league action.
Aztec freshman guard Veronica Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz.) led SDSU on the offensive side, scoring a career-high 18 points, including 16 in the second half. Teammate Jamey Cox (Waterloo, Iowa) contributed 10 points for her 11th double-figure scoring effort of the season. Freshman Ashlee Dunlap (Los Angeles, Calif.) pulled down a team-high six rebounds in the losing effort.
San Diego State opened the game with a 9-0 run and led by as many as 13 points twice, including at 21-8 with 7:16 left in the first half. The Aztecs held Lady Rebel Constance Jinks, the Mountain West Conference's leading scorer, off the scoreboard for the first 14 minutes, when she hit a jumper to spark a 11-0 UNLV run.
SDSU finally ended its scoring drought with a Cox jumper and went into the locker room at the half up, 23-19.
The Aztecs led for the entire game until UNLV's Julia Gray converted on the first of two free throws with 7:10 left in the game, to put her team up by one, 38-37. UNLV then take a six-point advantage, 39-45, before the Aztecs went to the line and converted five of eight free throw attempts to get back to within one at 44-45.
SDSU regained the lead on a Shaw jumper at 46-45, but could not hold on to the advantage, as Lady Rebel Sherry McCracklin converted a lay-up with 50 seconds left to give her team the 50-48 victory.
Jinks finished the game with a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds, while Gray added nine points in the victory.
SDSU continues its homestand with two more Mountain West Conference games next week, beginning with a Thursday meeting with Brigham Young at 7:05 p.m. at Cox Arena.